Saved Groups not working

Hello,
Sorry to hear you are having issues. Please post the saved groupy files here. You can do that. by : 3 Dot menu -> saved groups -> Manage saved group -> Right click on that problem group -> open with -> Notepad -> Select all the text in it and post it here.

Thanks

Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant.

I gave it one more try. Reinstalled Groupy, removed all traces I could find and reinstalled it. To my surprise "explorer.exe" was still in the menu as to not group automatically. I have no idea where this setting was saved.

After the reinstall the behavior still has not changed. Here are the two saved groups. 

If this group is opened both programs are opened but not grouped:
[GroupyEntry1]
OwnerProcess=C:\Program Files\LibreOffice\program\soffice.exe
RunElevated=0
NoPatternMatching=0
CommandLine=""-o" "E:\Dokumente\Beruf\Geschäft\2019\Geschäft 2019.ods" "-env:OOO_CWD=2E:\\Dokumente\\Beruf\\Geschäft\\2019" "-env:OOO_CWD=2C:\\Users\\olidie\\AppData\\Roaming\\Microsoft\\Windows\\Start Menu\\Saved Groups""
WorkingDirectory=C:\Program Files\LibreOffice\program
Target=C:\Program Files\LibreOffice\program\soffice.exe
MatchingClass=SALFRAME
[GroupyEntry2]
OwnerProcess=D:\Portable\Firefox\App\firefox64\firefox.exe
RunElevated=0
NoPatternMatching=0
CommandLine="-profile "D:\Portable\Firefox\Data\profile""
WorkingDirectory=D:\Portable\Firefox\App\firefox64
Target=D:\Portable\Firefox\App\firefox64\firefox.exe
MatchingClass=MozillaWindowClass
[Group]
GroupCount=2
GroupLeft=296
GroupTop=91
GroupRight=1658
GroupBottom=1063
GroupMax=0

Of this group only Libre Office is opened:
[GroupyEntry1]
OwnerProcess=C:\Program Files\LibreOffice\program\soffice.exe
RunElevated=0
NoPatternMatching=0
CommandLine=""-o" "E:\Dokumente\Beruf\Geschäft\2019\Geschäft 2019.ods" "-env:OOO_CWD=2E:\\Dokumente\\Beruf\\Geschäft\\2019""
WorkingDirectory=C:\Program Files\LibreOffice\program
Target=C:\Program Files\LibreOffice\program\soffice.exe
MatchingClass=SALFRAME
[GroupyEntry2]
OwnerProcess=C:\Program Files (x86)\Java\jre1.8.0_191\bin\javaw.exe
RunElevated=0
NoPatternMatching=0
CommandLine="-classpath "D:\Portable\jes EÜR\jes.exe;anything;jes-jar-2.02.31.jar;junit-4.12.jar;hamcrest-core-1.3.jar;xmlunit-core-2.6.3.jar;commons-lang3-3.9.jar;macify-1.6.jar;xalan-2.7.2.jar;serializer-2.7.2.jar;xercesImpl-2.12.0.jar;xml-apis-1.4.01.jar;commons-io-2.6.jar;mustang-1.7.2.jar;jaxb-impl-2.2.5.jar;commons-logging-1.2.jar;jcalendar-1.4.jar;rsyntaxtextarea-1.0.0.jar;tools-base-0.0.5-RELEASE.jar;tools-date-0.0.3-RELEASE.jar;tools-gui-0.0.5-RELEASE.jar;djswingsuite-0.9.3.jar;classgraph-4.8.43.jar" de.uwemock.eur.gui.start.Jes "E:\Dokumente\Beruf\Geschäft\2019\EÜR 2019.eux""
WorkingDirectory=C:\Program Files (x86)\Java\jre1.8.0_191\bin
Target=C:\Program Files (x86)\Java\jre1.8.0_191\bin\javaw.exe
MatchingClass=SunAwtFrame
[Group]
GroupCount=2
GroupLeft=296
GroupTop=91
GroupRight=1658
GroupBottom=1063
GroupMax=0

One addition that is most likely not related to my issues. Here is the screenshot of the de-installation window I get. I guess this is not really the way it is supposed to be.

Please try the purge and reinstall steps as mentioned here : https://forums.stardock.com/488142/groupy-support-faq#reinstalling

Just make sure to re-download the latest version from your account again. Reboot after the purge. And reinstall groupy. Reboot again after the reinstall. Retest and report back here.

Thank you,

Basj
Stardock Community Assistant.

Followed the instructions and purged, rebooted, reinstalled, rebooted and nothing has changed. Groupy still does not open up the saved groups.

One thing I noticed is that even after reinstalling the registry entry "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Stardock\Groupy" is missing. Is it not entered during installation?

Where is the info stored about which programs should automatically be grouped? Although I purged and reinstalled the "explorer.exe" is still automatically there.

Hello,
I have forwarded your questions/problems to the Stardock Support team for their assistance. Please keep an eye on this thread for any updates. We appreciate you feedback and patience.

Thank You,
Basj
Stardock Community Assistant.

Thank you, Basj.
I am about to go through the whole process again. One further thing I noticed it that groupyPurge.bat shows an error that the registry key or value is missing.

EDIT: I just installed groupy on a laptop (Win 10 x64 1909) and got the same results: saved groups not working, registry entry non existent.

No news?
I assume it might correlate with the missing registry entry. Would it be possible to post the entry here so I could enter it manually and see what happens?

I've re-forward you issue to Support for their assistance. Please keep an eye on this thread for any updates. We appreciate you feedback and patience.

Thank You,
Basj
Stardock Community Assistant.

Well, I guess that's it for me and Groupy. I really like the idea of the software but if I can't use it in the intended way it's a bummer. It would have been nice to have been provided the Reg Entry for me to try.

Ignore errors about registry keys in the batch files.  Sometimes they are set to wipe out things which might not exist if for example you have yet to change any settings.

All Groupy saved settings other than saved groups are stored here : HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Stardock\Groupy

Auto grouping details are saved in HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Stardock\Groupy\Groupy.ini\Groupy\AutoGrouping

I am unclear on what you mean by Explorer is showing in the menus as to not group automatically.  We show two options, auto group all explorer windows and do not auto group explorer windows.  These two do not show checkboxes to indicate selection in the menus.  A picture would be helpful.

Also, 

Setting aside any saved grouping with LibreOffice - do other saved groups work?  For example, calc and WIndows Explorer group from opening a saved group with just those apps?

Sean Drohan
Stardock Support Manager

Thank you for your replies.

Let's start from the top: even after purging and a clean install I do not have a registry entry for Groupy. HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Stardock\Groupy is not existing. Only HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Stardock\Fences exits because I also purchased Fences.

During my initial trial I added "explorer.exe" to the "Never automatically group" setting in Groupy. Even after purging and removing all findable traces of Groupy this entry is still immediately listed in these settings when I reinstall Groupy.

Some other saved groups work, others not. Can't see a pattern. Calc and Win Explorer worked. It seems like some programs are launched as a new/different instance (I use a user profile in Windows, not an admin account). For example when launching Filezilla within a group I get different messages e.g. about available updates which I do not get when launching Filezilla as a single program. Same with a pdf program that asked if I wanted to make it the default pdf software when first started in a group but never asks this when started alone.

Oliver

I cant fathom how that is even possible...  How Groupy would even function without it.

Are you certain you are looking in:

\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Stardock\

and not:

\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Stardock\

Sean Drohan
Stardock Support Manager

After another purge of Groupy and Fences plus a decent registry cleanup I reinstalled Groupy. As you can see there is no Stardock entry although Groupy is installed.

These are all registry entries that contain the word "Stardock"

It would not be under the root of 'Software' it would be \Software\Stardock\Groupy

If you have no \Stardock either, that is even more puzzling (I thought you said you had one for Fences?). 

This is what you should have and I just tested on a clean box - reg files are (of course) created on install without Groupy first use:

olidie, are you running anything that would not allow 3rd party apps to write Reg files (non-admin account using Admin privileges to install, AV product, anything)?

Is a clean boot possible, under a new Admin (<--important) Windows account, possible?

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/929135/how-to-perform-a-clean-boot-in-windows

Sean Drohan
Stardock Support Manager

I had \Software\Stardock\Fences before but before taking the above screenshots I deinstalled all Stardock software, cleaned up the registry and reinstalled Groupy. So the above shows the state after a fresh, clean install.

No, I do not have any apps running that restrict writing Reg files, nor any AV software other than Windows Defender. I only use a normal windows user account with no admin rights. Whenever I install a software I am asked to enter my admin password via the windows UAC.

My boot routine is clean from any software except for StableBit Scanner, which keeps an eye on my HD health.

I will try a clean install on a different machine and report the results.

So I did some further testing. Somehow after another round of purging and cleaning the registry I got the Groupy Reg entry under Software. Yes Still certain saved groups refuse to work. What I tested:

Mozilla Firefox + Google Chrome > works
Libre Office Calc + Java based software > does not work, only LO is started
Firefox + Libre Office Calc > does not work, both programs are launched but not as a group
Adobe Lightroom + Photo Mechanic > does not work, both programs are launched but not as a group
VLC Player + AIMP (Musicplayer) > works
Notepad++ + Total Commander > works
7-zip + Notepad++ > works

So I guess that I am just unlucky with the groups that I want to use. Basically that Libre Office does not seem to play well with Groupy. Plus that Java based programs do not seem to work at all. Do these programs work for you?

Oliver

It's just that some apps are notorious for not opening in a saved group (LibreOffice is a perpetual offender) and even when we 'fix' them, they get broke again with updates to them.  It's a moving target that questions the viability of continuing to try and keep up with for anything more than the most common of Windows / 3rd party apps/utilities.

That said, I will pass on your observations.

Java apps tend to fall into the 'all bets are off' category.  Out of curiosity, what specific 'Java-based software' are you referring to?

Sean Drohan
Stardock Support Manager